I want to get polyclonal antibody against my avian virus by injecting a rabbit, but I'm not sure if my virus particles are active since they have been in -80C for over a year now. To find out if the particles are alive we usually run plaque assay on Vero cells, but that will take time, at least 2 weeks, and I want to inject now.

The question is, Is it necessary to inject rabbit with active particle? Or inactive particle would also produce antibody against it? To me it kinda sounds like vaccinating with dead particle, and yet the body produces antibody against it.

-Curtis-

It should work as it is basically just vaccination, and very similar to making any antibody where just a peptide is used. It would probably pay to use an adjuvant (e.g. Freund's) to increase the immune response.